Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Pope Francis at weekly General Audience: the scandal of division

Pope
Francis devoted the catechetical portion of his weekly General Audience
on Wednesday to the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, which this year
is dedicated to a question taken from the First Letter to the
Corinthians: “Has Christ Been Divided?”

The English-language synthesis,
read out after the main reflection delivered by Pope Francis in
Italian, said, “We know that Christ has not been divided; yet we must
sincerely recognize that our communities continue to experience
divisions which are a source of scandal and weaken our witness to the
Gospel.”In reproaching the Corinthians for their divisions,
Paul reminds them to rejoice in the great spiritual gifts which they
have received. His words encourage us to rejoice in the gifts God has
given to other Christians, gifts which we can receive from them for our
enrichment. To be able to do this calls for humility, discernment and
constant conversion. Pope Francis asked all Christian
faithful to pray that, as we reflect on Paul’s teaching during this Week
of Prayer for Christian Unity, we may be confirmed, together with all
Christ’s followers, in our pursuit of holiness and fidelity to the
Lord’s will.